Iran Blitz Bypasses U.s. Ships

September 03, 1987|By James O`Shea, Chicago Tribune.

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES — In one of the fiercest assaults on shipping in the Persian Gulf war, Iran claimed its gunboats launched five attacks on ships in a 16-hour period starting after dusk Tuesday. Iraq claimed its warplanes hit two oil tankers and targets on Iranian territory.

Overall, the two nations have claimed that their jets and gunboats have attacked 17 ships since Saturday, prompting predictions of higher oil prices because of the fighting. Not all of the claimed hits have been confirmed.

Significantly, none of the attacks involved ships that were being escorted by the U.S. Navy or other Western naval forces in the gulf. No casualties were reported in the shipping attacks.

Two of the attacks were against the Liberian flag tanker Diamond Marine about 30 miles southeast of the gulf`s entrance and the Cypriot flag cargo vessel Leonidas Glory just off the coast of the United Arab Emirates.

The attacks left the Korean tanker, Astro Pegasus, stranded in the southern gulf with a smoldering boiler room, the sources said.

Another damaged tanker with a Greek flag, Dafni, was rescued in the northern gulf by Saudi Arabia`s navy, and the attacks raised fears in the gulf that the attacks could endanger other shipping.

Two thirds of the crew members of the Jebal Ali, a Kuwaiti flag cargo ship that was strafed by Iran Monday, have informed authorities that they didn`t want to continue their service with the ship unless they received war premiums in their paychecks, according to one shipping source.

Iran also hit a Spanish flag tanker just after dusk Tuesday, and it said it also downed two more Iraqi jets.

The U.S. and Britain have criticized the Iraqi attacks. The U.S. also said it would press for an arms embargo and sanctions against Iran if the Tehran government didn`t adopt a United Nations cease-fire by the end of the week. Iran responded by inviting UN Sec. Gen. Javier Perez de Cuellar to Tehran for a visit.

In Baghdad, an Iraqi war communique said Iraq hit its eleventh tanker in five days of air strikes on oil tankers, oil fields and industrial targets. Iraq said it hit two tankers Wednesday.

The flurry of attacks in the relatively small gulf has prompted fears among diplomats and shipping sources here that the tanker war could spread to Western navies escorting Kuwaiti oil tankers and other commerical ships.

So far Iranian retaliatory attacks have not been directed at ships with U.S. or other Western escorts. The warships were expected to return down the gulf soon, though, protecting another three Kuwaiti tankers moored off Kuwait. Iran, meanwhile, condemned the U.S. for failing to hand over a Iraqi pilot rescued by the Navy in the Persian Gulf. Iran said the pilot, whose plane apparently was hit by an Iranian missile, was one of several Iraqi planes hit while attacking tankers and economic targets. Iran said the pilot should have been turned over to Iran instead of the International Red Crescent Society, the Islamic counterpart of the International Red Cross.

Iraq started the latest escalation of the tanker war last Saturday when it shattered a 45-day lull in the war with simultaneous attacks on Iranian oil terminals and tankers.